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Luke 5:1-11
Epiphany 5C
Fear, as we all know, is a powerful motivator. History is full of proof of fear’s ability to keep awful people in power—and if we look deep enough, we also see how awful people are motivated by their own fears. But we also know from the biblical account that not all fear is a reaction…
Luke 4:21-30
Epiphany 4C
I described last week’s ending as a bit of a cliff hanger: Jesus preaches that he has fulfilled the Scriptures of hope and promise, of needs being met, of freedom from oppression and imprisonment. The lectionary helpfully repeats the summary of Jesus’ sermon by opening this week’s selection with the close of last week’s verses….
Luke 4:14-21
Epiphany 3C
Throughout the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit’s presence with Jesus is described in various ways. In verse 14, Jesus has just returned from his post-baptism time of temptation in the desert. Upon his return, Jesus takes up the mantle of teacher, filled with the Spirit for the work of sharing God’s truth in synagogues….
Palm Sunday: A Flash in the Dark
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is like a flashbulb going off in a dark room. Most of us know what that’s like. You are sitting in the middle of a very dark room when suddenly, maybe as a prank, somebody pushes the test button on a camera’s flash. Just before the flash, the room is so…
Lent 4: Everything I Have
He had a point, you know. The older brother: he had a point. And if you don’t believe that, then maybe it will help to admit that it’s a point you and I have made in the past and it’s a point we are liable to make again in the future, too. I’m not saying…
Lent 2: Christ the Hen
When I was a kid in the early 1970s, Saturday night meant watching my favorite TV show, Emergency! I loved that show about two brave paramedics from Squad 51 of the Los Angeles Fire Department. When Johnny and Roy were in danger, my pulse raced. Thanks to my father, who was a real-life volunteer fireman…
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Epiphany 1C
The Sunday text near Epiphany is the Sunday we commemorate the Baptism of the Lord. And yet, in the gospel of Luke, we pretty much miss the whole thing! Luke describes it in the past tense: Jesus was one of “all” the people who were baptized by the John the Baptist. Instead, Luke’s baptism account…
Luke 2:41-52
1st Sunday after Christmas C
We are still in the Christmas season on this Sunday, and for many of us, this is a low-key Sunday, a “coming down” from all of the hype that has been the season. There’s a bit of that feeling in the story as well. Year after year (a more literal translation of the opening of…
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
Advent 4C
Though the power of Mary’s song always draws my heart’s cry for justice and hope, this year I’m particularly drawn to what we learn about the way of God in the support that Elizabeth offers to Mary. After Mary gives her big “YES” to God’s plan for the salvation of the world, past, present and…
Luke 3:7-18
Advent 3C
Last week we ended with a consideration of the possibility that these two Advent weeks spent in chapter 3 could be viewed as the covenant obligations on display. Verses 1-6 highlight what God will achieve, and here in verses 7-18 we receive the invitation from God (through the prophet John) to respond to God’s activity….
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